


even in this new form

by shortcircuitify



Category: The Shape of Water (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 19:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13219506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortcircuitify/pseuds/shortcircuitify
Summary: She is stolen from him, from their home. AU





	even in this new form

She is a thing of wonder, even to him, even in their eternal home of green algae and blue stone. Time is a concept they do not have an understanding of, and it does not matter when their love is as strong as it is, their breath shared between the bubbles of the currents.

She is a golden creature, scales reflecting off light in ways that make him ache, makes him want to keep her in his arms always, forever entrapped with his mouth and tongue and body. A peaceful existence, one only bothered by the strange new creatures that lurk the Amazon, ones that, when their spears do not crack the thick, amphibian layer of their bodies, run and call them gods instead.

She is beautiful, in the quiet way she breaths, no sound coming from her mouth or the gills on her neck, so different to his calls, the way he cries out when she touches him, his heart stuttering even after all this time.

Everything is beautiful and bright, in their small piece of the world, until those strange, rabid creatures come again, not as scared as before and vicious in their intent.

It is sudden, her curiosity calling to her as they come with contraptions that shoot smoke into the water, nets armed with sharp edges that dig into her thigh and makes her face sharp in pain. For once, he is too slow, hiding under the water while she is captured, trapped, taken away from her home.

They steal her away from him, and the tribes of the Amazon bow down when they hear the empty cries of their forlorn god.

\--

They keep her from water too long, away from the warm South American breezes, to somewhere her body aches for warmth and wetness and _him._

It is hard to breathe; she claws at her scaled skin with webbed hands, sharp claws. She cannot feel her gills, only scars that she rubs angrily as she feels like she is dying. Her heart broken, her love far away as she is trapped here, in a crate, her cries silent.

It is hard, painful beyond belief, as her body changes, her scales falling off and turning to rainbow dust, the only reminder of her soulmate, until she is left with no memories, no idea who she is or who she was, knowing only that where she is, is lonely and dark.

The men that found her find a young woman in the crate that held such a legendary creature, and they dump her off in Baltimore to fend for herself, for years and years and years as she relearns the world.

\--

He is captured, too, much later, heartbroken without purpose in that warm lagoon that was their own, silent and lonely without her there. He fights, but with no purpose, against those foul creatures that took her from him.

It doesn’t seem to matter in the end, as he is boxed up and sent to a dark, damp facility where there is no light, the water stagnant.

That is, until he sees her. Recognizes her, even though she looks so different, looks like one of the creatures that took her away in the first place.

She does not recognize him, but the curiosity is there, the love that they shared for so long still clear in her eyes, and as he presses his hand against the glass, she returning the gesture with a hand no longer webbed, he feels it – alive, again.

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking throughout the movie that Elisa's scars indicated she was a creature like The Asset before somehow, so I explored that briefly here. Hope you liked :)


End file.
